La Liga Week 35 Standings & Table: Lionel Messi & Cristiano Ronaldo Score Five Goals, Barcelona Still in First Place Over Real Madrid

By Damon Salvadore First Posted: May 05, 2015 05:00 AM EDT

Barcelona and Real Madrid continued their winning ways in Week 35 of The Spanish League.

Barcelona absolutely annihilated Cordoba, 8-0. With that lopsided victory, Barcelona improved their overall record to 28-3-4 to give them 87 points. The goal scoring was extremely balanced for Barcelona in this game as five different players found the net. Ivan Rakitić, Gerard Piqué and Neymar each scored a goal, Lionel Messi scored twice, and Luis Suarez recorded a hat trick.

The 28-year-old Uruguayan has been on fire over the last two months for Barcelona. Suarez now has 16 goals and 13 assists this season. Messi has 40 goals this La Liga season and a league-high 18 assists. On top of an offense that is tied for the most goals in the league, Barcelona has an elite defense and goalkeeper as well. Barcelona has allowed the fewest goals against this season by a wide margin thanks to Claudio Bravo.

Barcelona will take on Real Sociedad next week at home.

Even though Barcelona hasn't lost in their last 11 games, they aren't in the clear just yet.

Real Madrid picked up their 28th win of the season after narrowly defeating Sevilla, 3-2. That was Real Madrid's seventh consecutive victory after losing to Barcelona in Week 28. Cristiano Ronaldo scored all three goals for Real Madrid, recording yet again another hat trick. Ronaldo now has an incredible 42 goals this season, and with just three games remaining, he could still break Messi's 50 goal record. Ronaldo would have to score eight goals in the final three games to tie the single season record set by Messi in the 2011-12 season.

This marks the third time that Ronaldo has scored 40 times in a single La Liga season. Only Messi has done so three times, as well. Ronaldo's career high is 46 goals, set in the 2011-12 season.

Real Madrid is just two points back of Barcelona in the Spanish League standings.

Real Madrid will take on fourth place Valencia in their next game, who they lost to in week 17. There's only three weeks remaining in the 2014-15 La Liga season, and fans couldn't ask for much more. Atletico Madrid has been eliminated from any possibly of winning a second consecutive league championship. Unfortunately for them, the offense just wasn't there this year. As for Valencia and Sevilla, they, too, had great seasons, but this will once again come down to Barcelona and Real Madrid.

A Real Madrid win next week combined with a loss by Barcelona will automatically vault Real Madrid into first place. Real Madrid will need some help going forward. As for Barcelona, they control their own destiny. If they simply defeat their last three opponents, they will be named Spanish League Champions for the 23rd time.